When a fraudster sells a counterfeit gift card or certificate, either the consumer they’ve sold it to or the business they’ve counterfeited will lose out.

Typically, these scammers impersonate authority figures, relatives in distress, or service providers, coercing victims into believing they need to buy gift cards as payments or solutions to.

Your money was gone the moment you gave someone those gift card numbers.

β€” gift card scammers only want your money.

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If you bought a gift card and gave someone the numbers off the back of the card, that’s a scam.

Report the gift card scam to the gift card company right away.

Learn more about your rights as a consumer and how to spot and avoid scams.

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1 gift cards are far more frequently reported than any other payment method for fraud, 2 and the numbers have reached staggering new highs compared to past years.

First they’ll call, text, email, or send a social media message.

Find the resources you need to understand how consumer protection law impacts your business.

β€” about one in four people who report losing money to fraud say it happened when a scammer tricked them into giving the numbers on the back of a gift card.

Learn how fraudsters trick victims into sending them online gift cards or reading the numbers on the back of a gift card over the phone.

β€” gift card scams can start off with a phone call, email or text.

β€” gift card scams generally involve deceptive tactics where scammers trick people into purchasing gift cards and then have them share the card details or pin.

The brazoria gift card scam suspects busted for selling fake gift certificates.

No matter how long ago the scam happened, report it.

3 in the first nine months of.

But now, some gift card companies might be able to get your money back.

β€” did someone tell you to buy a gift card and give them the numbers?

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You’ll either be told in store that the gift card is invalid and can’t be used, or the cashier accepts the gift certificate unaware that it’s fake and the business loses stock.

Use your gift card and gift card store receipt for these next steps:

β€” indeed, the us department of justice announced this week the indictment of four suspected gift card scammers, and alleges that that these four had ended up with more than 5000 fradulently obtained cards to spend on themselves.